Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Acquires 210 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 888.7% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,329,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,112 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Linde by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,780,213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,394 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 450.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $698,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $1.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $461.64. The stock had a trading volume of 223,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,356,116. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.78, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $441.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.93.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.